TechRadar News

OpenAI reportedly counts one million paying business customers on its ChatGPT Enterprise, Team and Education subscriptions, the company has claimed.

The significant growth, as of September, marks a considerable increase from the 600,000 reported in April, and has been credited to continual advancements in the large language models powering the conversational generative AI chatbot, including the launch of GPT-4o earlier this summer.

Alongside paid business plans such as Team ($25 per month), personal plans like Plus ($20 per month) and the free tier look not to be included in the figure above.

ChatGPT has one million business customers

According to Bloomberg, many of the company’s million business users are located in the US, with the UK, Germany and Japan also contributing to the overall figures.

Moreover, OpenAI is reportedly exploring higher prices for subscriptions accessing upcoming, more advanced LLMs such as Strawberry and Orion. Early internal talks suggest prices could extend as high as $2,000 per month, according to an unnamed source familiar with the matter (via The Information).

On the lower end of the scale, the free ChatGPT tier is believed to be accessed by hundreds of millions of users every month.

As OpenAI continues to grow its ChatGPT services, more companies are paying closer attention. Joining Microsoft’s early multibillion-dollar investment in the startup, Apple and Nvidia are reportedly exploring investing in the company.

The latest fundraising round could see OpenAI reach a valuation of more than $100 billion, up from an estimated $80 billion in February when the ChatGPT-maker was planning to sell shares to Thrive Capital.

Despite occasional boasts, OpenAI remains a largely private company. The split of paying customers and how many users the platform has attracted on its consumer-focused subscriptions are not entirely known.

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Oracle and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have announced the launch of Oracle Database@AWS in the hope customers of both platforms can access a single, unified database service.

The new offering includes access to Oracle Autonomous Database and Oracle Exadata Database Service on AWS infrastructure.

The move should also mean enterprises will be able to access Oracle databases with applications running on Amazon EC2, AWS Analytics services and AWS’s AI and ML services, such as Bedrock.

Oracle and AWS announce unified database

Oracle Database@AWS promises a low-latency network connection between Oracle databases and AWS applications, allowing customers to use Oracle’s databases alongside AWS applications for better security and scalability.

Oracle CTO Larry Ellison noted the upgrade comes in response to growing customer demand for multicloud environments: “With Oracle Cloud Infrastructure deployed inside of AWS datacenters, we can provide customers with the best possible database and network performance.”

AWS CEO Matt Garman added: “This new, deeper partnership will provide Oracle Database services within AWS to allow customers to take advantage of the flexibility, reliability, and scalability of the world’s most widely adopted cloud alongside enterprise software they rely on.”

With the package, customers will also benefit from Amazon’s zero-ETL (Extract, transform, and load) integration between Oracle Database services and AWS Analytics services, integration with Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), enhanced AWS Marketplace options to purchase Oracle Database services and enhancements for migrating Oracle databases to the cloud.

Speaking about the collaboration, early adopter Vodafone said that Oracle Database@AWS has enabled the company to develop secure, resilient and innovative services faster and at scale, benefitting both customers and developers.

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Mojang Studios has shared its updated development plan for Minecraft, confirming that players will get more frequent content drops in the future.

In a new blog post, the developer explained that after 15 years since launch, it will be making improvements to its popular survival sandbox game by introducing new features more regularly moving forward.

"We know that you want new Minecraft content more often, which is why we’re changing our feature development rhythm," Mojang said. 

The developer confirmed that instead of providing one free update during summer, it will now release "a number of free game drops throughout the year", all of which will vary in size and bring new features more frequently.

Mojang revealed that the first of these dropped in December 2023 with the arrival of visual changes and new functional storage containers, followed by the Armored Paws update in April 2024, which introduced armadillos, wolf variations, and wolf armor.

In addition to more regular content drops, the studio announced that it will now be focusing on "long-term initiatives to ensure we can continue to evolve Minecraft long into the future", although it stopped short of revealing these plans.

Mojang also touched on the native PlayStation 5 version of Minecraft, which was revealed earlier this year as a limited preview, and confirmed that the current-gen version of the game is still in the works. 

Unfortunately, the studio didn't share an estimated release date, but it did confirm that over the coming year, it will be exploring ways to improve Minecraft’s multiplayer experience and "make it easier to find and connect with friends."

Minecraft Live, the game's annual celebration live stream, will be getting some changes, too. Instead of a single October broadcast, Mojang will provide two streams per year and explained they will become "more focussed" by retiring the mob vote and also feature details on what the development team is actively working on.

"We are excited for a future of Minecraft in which we get to share more features with you more regularly, and in which your suggestions continue to become a reality," Mojang said. "We hope you’ll join us for another fifteen years - and hopefully, even more."

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Focus Entertainment has released the first details for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2's first post-launch update.

After spending a few days in early access, Space Marine 2 is officially out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC, but players can already expect a new patch to be released sometime this week.

That's according to a new Steam post following the game's launch, where Focus Entertainment shared a teaser for the upcoming patch, which will include multiple fixes for crashing issues during the start of the game and during the first cutscene, which have remained persistent since early access.

Saber Interactive's shooter will also see some optimizations to performance, improvements to servers following some reports of disconnections, and a bug that has prevented some players from joining entirely.

"I have about 6 hours in the game, I've only played the tutorial and have managed to get into about 4-5 Eternal War matches and 1 Operation," one user said. 

"Whether I'm trying to play with my friends or play solo most of the time I get stuck on Joining Server and it won't load me into the game. So much for 4 day early access, can't even take advantage of it and play multiplayer."

The same bug has also caused some players to lose out on rewards after being disconnected from the server after completing missions, but the issue should be resolved with the upcoming patch. You can take a look at the minor list of fixes below.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2's first patch details:

• Multiple crash fixes (start of the game, 1st cutscene crash, etc...)
• Optimized CPU usage
• Server improvements
• Render bug improvements

The publisher also made sure to remind players of Space Marine 2's post-launch roadmap, which will see several free updates, the first of which will arrive this month and introduce private PvE lobbies, ultrawide support, and the Battle Barge Sparring Arena.

Season 2 is planned for Fall 2024 and will include new PvE missions, a new lethal difficulty, and new cosmetics, while Season 3 and Season 4 will arrive in 2025 and feature additional missions, new arenas, a Horde Mode, and more.

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As the dust settles on the rather busy iPhone 16 launch event, more and more details are coming to light about the new devices and software that Apple is now rolling out – including the iOS 18 update due next week (Monday, September 16).

The team at 9to5Mac has done some digging and discovered the ability to pause video recordings in the iOS 18 Release Candidate (that's the finalized testing version that immediately precedes a public launch).

This ties in with a demo we saw at Apple's show, in which the iPhone 16 (and its new Camera Control button) was shown pausing a video midway through the recording – very handy for doing jump cuts between scenes in a single video file.

The new discovery suggests the feature is also coming to every other iPhone that's able to run iOS 18. When recording a video, a pause button appears in the lower left-hand corner, and you can tap to temporarily stop and restart the recording.

iOS 18 and the AirPods Pro 3

The AirPods 4 come with a hearing aid feature (Image credit: Apple)

Some further investigation into the iOS 18 code by 9to5Mac has revealed a reference to wireless earbuds with a heart rate sensor: "wear both earbuds during workouts to track and send your heart rate to Apple Health" reads part of the message.

As verified with insider sources, this means health sensors are likely on the way to both the AirPods Pro 3 and the next-gen PowerBeats Pro earbuds. Both those devices are expected to launch at some point during 2025.

Yesterday we got the unveiling of the AirPods 4 wireless earbuds, featuring a number of useful upgrades: improved sound (as you would expect), a refreshed design, and active noise cancellation on the more expensive of the two pairs.

Thanks to the iOS 18 code we now know there's more on the way for the more expensive version of Apple's wireless earbuds – in addition to infrared cameras, perhaps. The Apple AirPods Pro 2 were launched back in 2022, with a small refresh in 2023.

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US clean energy company, Beam Global, has just announced its latest innovation, which it hopes can replace the archaic streetlight network with something genuinely useful, particularly as we enter an age of increasing EV adoption.

The BeamSpot sustainable curbside electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure system, to give it its full title, replaces a standard street lamp with a module that harnesses solar, wind and utility-generated electricity to top up an integrated 15 kWh battery pack.

As a result, Beam Global claims that each unit can provide up to 220 "e-miles" to vehicles every day, with the 5.76kW outlet able to provide admittedly very slow battery top-ups while EV owners pop to the shops, park up for work or leave their vehicles curbside for the evening.

Perhaps the biggest draw is the fact that Beam Global says it can tap into the existing infrastructure, with its BeamSpot units requiring no "new or upgraded utility grid circuits, trenching, construction, easements, leases or complex permitting".

However, Beam Global will require a fair amount of space and some fairly lenient town planners, as the units measure 40 ft tall with the wind turbine option, or 30 ft without it installed. They also look a little bit like an alien invasion.

Beam Global hopes to rollout its innovative solution to those areas that require it most, such as multi-unit communities, where residents don’t have access to to a garage or off-street parking, as well as public venues where space isn’t perhaps so much of an issue.

Keen to be green 

(Image credit: Beam Global)

Curbside charging, where EV owners can plug into lampposts and other existing infrastructure, is nothing new, but Beam Global has added an another element by creating its own energy via wind and solar.

The presence of onboard battery packs allows BeamSpot to charge and discharge when required, while tapping into an existing low-circuit feed when the batteries run dry, or solar and wind power isn’t enough to meet demand.

Despite being a great idea, we can imagine some of the planning meetings surrounding the installation of these things could get pretty heated, seeing as they are such a blight on the surrounding landscape.

Plus, the addition of onboard battery packs, as well as expensive green charging tech, is likely to see the unit cost for each BeamSpot far outweigh those more compact options that tap into an existing grid.

As much as we agree with the fact that more needs to be done for those EV owners that don’t have access to home charging systems, we’re not sure 40 ft wind turbines lining residential streets is the answer.

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Adobe has announced a series of updates for Premiere Pro and After Effects designed to add studio-style polish to video content for beginner and experienced editors. 

Ahead of IBC 2024, the company is beginning to roll out a set of beta tools and features that will enhance editing workflows and streamline post-production processes. Highlights include all-new color management tools and improved UI and navigation, as the company aims to make one of the best video editing software tools even better for new and existing users. 

In addition to super-charging Pro’s color management system, users can also expect to see better integration with After Effects and Substance 3D. With on-going collaborations with editors and content creators, the company also teased generative AI video editing tools coming to the software in the future. 

What's new from Adobe?

• Color management tools

A new color management system is the headline update in this beta release. Letting editors take control of on-screen colors, the new tools offer end-to-end color processing in the video editing app without requiring LUTs. With six presets available, the company was keen to note that it’s “invisible and automatic”, with operations occurring in the background, making it more accessible to those who need color correction tools but lack the experience. And for the first time, the software will also boast a wide gamut working color space. Users will also find greater format support for RED, ARRI, Sony, Canon, and ProRes RAW videos, and log format support for RED, ARRI, Sony, Canon, Panasonic, Fujifilm, Nikon, Leica, DJI, and GoPro. 

For those concerned about legacy projects being affected, Adobe has stated the default preset mirrors the standard Premiere Pro setting, so older projects still look the same. In a similar vein, color accuracy will be maintained across Premiere Pro and After Effects using Dynamic Link. 

• Context-sensitive properties panel

With the new Properties panel, editors of all skill-levels are able to access all of Premiere Pro’s most popular tools, effects, and quick actions without fumbling through menus and panels and disrupting the editing flow. As part of this update, Adobe has now directly built the Crop tool into the program monitor. And, for rapid adjustments at scale, the tool supports the adjustment of multiple clips at once.  

(Image credit: Adobe)

• Performance & UI

Users familiar with the video editing tool will notice a few changes to the software’s appearance, with rounded corners and cleaner, clearer fonts. This refreshed UI is, according to Adobe, designed to make it more comfortable sitting inside the program for hours at a time. And just as comfortable is the inclusion of two dark modes, a light mode, and a more accessible high-contrast mode. Alongside this, the beta also brings performance improvements including faster and more responsive media playback, hardware-accelerated AVC and HEVC, and three-times faster exports when rendering ProRes footage.  

• After Effects & Substance 3D

Premiere Pro isn’t the only tool to get updated, with After Effects – our pick for best VFX software – also receiving the same UI improvements. However, it’s also improving 3D workflows, with AE now natively supporting 3D models with embedded animations, more realistic shadow casting, and over 30 animation presets for speeding up production (and letting creators create). Performance has also been improved and users will also find it easier to send files directly from the company’s 3D modeling software Substance 3D, which now boasts over twenty-thousand fully licensed assets. 

During a demo of the new tools, we were impressed to see how animations can be used and re-used whether it’s for a five-second clip or a thirty-second commercial. In the example we saw, an animated mobile phone cover opened and closed – rapidly in a five-second slot. By extending the required length of the footage, simply by dragging the handles in the timeline, the same animation was repeated to fill the longer time-frame, smoothly and without loss of frame-rate.

• Firefly Services

Businesses keen to make use of Adobe’s enterprise-focused AI tools will find a few video production extras coming online. The Enhance Speech API, which will be familiar to some, is now available via Firefly Services, cleaning up audio, repairing speech, and removing unwanted background noises. Meanwhile, the Dubbing & Lip Sync API is tailored to global businesses who need to localize content for different territories. Effectively, this tool automates translation and alters a subject’s lip movements to match the language. 

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Canadian payment gateway provider Slim CD was hit by a cyberattack which has affected almost 1.7 million US and Canadian users.

The company first detected suspicious activity in its system on June 15 2024, however an investigation revealed the system had first been breached on August 17 2023, meaning hackers had access to its network for almost a year.

Slim CD insists that hackers only had access to credit card information for two days of the period, between June 14 and June 15, but the information accessed may include full names, credit card numbers, expiration dates, and customer’s physical address.

No additional protection

As a payment processing service, Slim CD stores credit card information to allow users and businesses to access card payments online.

The company has reassured users it has taken "steps to implement additional safeguards" and review its policies relating to data security and privacy, as well as reporting the incident to federal law enforcement and regulatory authorities.

Slim CD did not offer those affected any free of charge identity theft protection services. Instead, the firm recommended customers to take steps to protect themselves,

“We encourage you to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud by reviewing your account statements and monitoring your free credit reports for suspicious activity and to detect errors.”, the firm said in a statement.

This is the latest in what seems to be a never ending string of data breaches, with threat actors gaining access to millions of people's information through various security breaches in recent times.

There are dedicated identity theft protection services which can help those affected by the ever-present threat of data breaches.

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BOE, a consumer electronics maker that is also one of the world's biggest display manufacturers from China, has released a new OLED prototype that can show 95% of the Rec.2020 (also known as BT.2020) color gamut, which is better than LG and Samsung OLED displays.  

According to OLED-Info, the new prototype, which is currently intended for phones, tablets and laptops, was shown off at the company's Innovation Partner Conference on September 4. As you can see from the below post on X (formerly Twitter), the new OLED tech improves the accuracy and richness of the colors displayed significantly.  

BOE shows its first TADF OLED prototype, with a green hyperfluorescence emitter system and a tandem architecture:https://t.co/6F9KLKlYN7#OLED pic.twitter.com/zlac760zDISeptember 5, 2024

To give some numbers (like FlatpanelsHD first pointed out), LG's W-OLED, found in TVs like the LG B4, shows about 70% of the Rec.2020 color gamut. Meanwhile, Samsung's AMOLED tech, found in some of its smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, displays roughly 70-80% and its QD-OLED tech shows up to 90%, which we found to be the case when we tested one of its best TVs, the Samsung S95D – it achieved a result of 87.9%. 

At the time of writing, BOE's OLED screens can be found in some of the best phones on the market, such as the Honor Magic V3, which uses BOE's f-OLED (flexible folding display screen) tech. 

There is currently no word as to whether this new OLED prototype will come to TVs, but BOE is also a TV display manufacturer, covering sizes from 26- to 110-inches including 8K Super IPS-ADS technology, so hopefully it may look to expand this new tech into its larger display screens. 

More colorful TVs?

The Samsung S95D (pictured) currently hits the highest Rec.2020 color gamut coverage we've measured.  (Image credit: Future)

The Rec.2020 color space, which we refer to as BT.2020 in our TV reviews, is said to show more color visible to the human eye than both the older Rec.709 and DCI-P3 color spaces, which we refer to as UHDA-P3 in our TV testing – the latter is used in the movie industry. 

In general, most TVs display below 75% of the Rec.2020 color space. For instance, some of the best OLED TVs such as the LG C4 hit 72.7% in our tests. Even budget mini-LED TVs like the the Hisense U6N hit 73.1%, while 8K TVs such as the Samsung QN900D hit lower than 75%, with the QN900D tapping out at 70.5%. 

The Samsung S95D, which uses QD-OLED technology, hits over 87% as we've stated above and this is just one contributing factor to why it earned five stars out of five in our review, with its bold, vibrant colors being one of its highlights. It proves that good color gamut coverage can add an extra layer to a TV.

Although BOE hasn't said whether its 95% Rec.2020 OLED displays are coming to TVs, we're hoping it will. OLED is already the arguably most popular TV panel tech available and the possibility of adding even more color into its already dynamic picture is only good news. 

At the very least, BOE's colorful displays could encourage LG and Samsung to improve on its own OLED tech, although QD-OLED is close already. Hopefully, we may see the likes of more entry-level OLEDs like the LG B4 displaying even more vivid colors. There's nothing wrong with a bit of healthy competition. 

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Apple’s Glowtime event served an avalanche of new products and features centered around the Apple Intelligence AI that the company has been hyping up for months. For a lowdown on everything you need to know, check out our iPhone 16 Pro hub. And for our first impressions, do read our hands-on iPhone 16 Pro review.

But, amid all of the new and upcoming features, the actual rollout felt familiar. I kept noting how each new feature already had a counterpart at Google, or OpenAI, or Meta, or all three and more. I have more than a passing knowledge of what’s out there, but even so, Apple’s rush of features felt more like someone setting up a comparison than forging new, innovative ground, which was what Apple used to do in the 2000s. What it really felt like was watching Apple’s announcement of its HomePod smart speaker and its later iterations. 

Siri blew everyone’s mind when it first came out, adding real power to the iPhone and setting a standard no one could reach for a while. But when Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa came along, suddenly Siri wasn’t so special, but still, no one was keen on using either with their smartphone the way they were with Siri. Then came the Amazon Echo and Google Home (later Nest after an acquisition). Both companies poured resources into not only making appealing, relatively cheap smart speakers and displays but also making sure to keep their voice assistants equal to the task, often with better natural language processing, superior context retention, and deeper third-party integrations than anything Siri could bring to the fore. 

The first Echo came out in 2014 and the first Google Home arrived two years later. Both quickly iterated the voice assistant and the hardware linking users to Alexa and Google Assistant. The first HomePod didn’t come out until 2018, and it had much of the rigidity in performance that drew complaints about Siri. The HomePod, while technically impressive in terms of sound quality, failed to compete with Amazon Echo and Google Home. Both rivals had already solidified their place in homes, offering affordable smart speakers with expansive voice assistant capabilities that tied into a wider ecosystem of smart home devices. Apple’s HomePod was more expensive, limited, and frankly late to the game. Even the later HomePod Mini could only try to match what had already been available for a while from Amazon and Google. 

Apple was playing catch up when it released its HomePod. (Image credit: Future) Apple AI's Steep Competition

Apple Intelligence doesn’t have quite the dire delay in release time as Apple’s voice assistant and smart speaker faced, but if you look at the list of AI features, you could repeat the words, “Google/OpenAI/many more did it already”, nearly every time. The advanced natural language understanding, photo editing tools, and enhanced smartphone controls have all already been announced or released by Google and others. They reflect a company that is still trying to close the gap left open by its AI rivals. Even Apple’s partnership news seems familiar. Embedding OpenAI’s models to give ChatGPT-power to its features is a good idea, but one that Microsoft and others have already pursued. Even Google, with its own stable of AI models, looked to ChatGPT's abilities in developing features for the Gemini AI assistant. 

There were only two ideas, one frivolous and one possibly important, from Apple that struck me as unique or at least notably different from what we’ve seen before. The custom emojis of Genmojis are a cute idea that doesn’t seem to be quite as easy to set up on Google-powered devices. More crucially, Apple made a point about how much on-device AI processing will happen and how it will leverage its Private Cloud Compute system to encourage privacy and data security. That could be a big selling point to potential customers even if it limits some of what the AI can do compared to a cloud-first approach. But, even the on-device processing as a selling point for a smartphone has already been done by Google when it debuted the Pixel 9.

Apple had a lot to say, and Apple Intelligence may bring some unique features to the table, but the company’s late entry and iterative approach to AI suggest that it is still playing catch-up. Much like the HomePod’s struggle to gain traction in a market dominated by earlier entrants, Apple’s AI tools—while carrying the Apple design polish and privacy focus many admire—seem designed more to match what others are already doing than to push the envelope further. Apple used to set the stage for the next big tech fad, but it will take more than fun custom emojis to retake that position; just ask the ten people who still have a HomePod.

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You've got to love Apple's announcement that it's going to turn your AirPods Pro into hearing aids. As someone whose iPod and iPhone listening has no doubt done tons of damage to my eardrums over the last few decades, it's funny that Apple is now promising to make some more money by selling me the fix. 

But the idea of my 2022-issue AirPods Pro 2 (and probably the AirPods Pro 3 that Apple has yet to unveil) suddenly becoming hearing helpers is genuinely exciting, even if Apple is also overhyping it.

According to Apple, "AirPods Pro 2 provide the world’s first all-in-one hearing health experience including a clinical-grade, over-the-counter Hearing Aid feature". And that's a fair description. The crucial part is that your AirPods Pro are not hearing aids; they are earbuds that have a hearing aid feature. 

That's an important distinction because very many people wear their hearing aids all the time, and as a result they need to be long-lasting. Some models can go for the best part of a month between batteries, but even basic models run for days. AirPods Pro, as you know, are good for about six hours before you need to put them back in their case for a recharge. That's a lot of listening to music, but it's a lot shorter than a nine-to-five working day, or a family day out. 

Your AirPods aren't a viable hearing aid replacement – yet

I've written before about the AirPods' then-rumored hearing aid upgrades, and I think they're potentially game-changing. Hearing aids are not particularly complicated devices, but they are shockingly expensive devices – especially in the US, where the prices of some models are comically high. But of course, high prices aren't funny when you have a medical need. So the FDA's decision to license over-the-counter hearing aids from 2022 was a massive and very welcome shift. As I wrote earlier this year, "You know a market has been protected for too long when Apple prices look like the budget option."

What we're seeing now is a shot across the bows of the hearing aid industry, which isn't just facing competition from Apple: Sony's already in the market with its $799 self-fitting C10 hearing aids, which are expensive by earbud standards but incredibly cheap for hearing aids. But what Sony's offering is different from what Apple's planning: its hearing aids aren't also earbuds, so they don't have Bluetooth or other battery-sapping features. That means they're good for a claimed 70 hours between battery changes. Big difference, no? 

Apple is very good at selling things it hasn't yet delivered, and a lot of yesterday's Apple event was devoted to promises rather than products. AirPods Pro as hearing aids are part of that, I think, in much the same way that the Series 3 Apple Watch introduced sleep tracking to a device whose battery would run out of charge in the middle of the night; six generations later my Series 9 still urges me to charge it before bedtime in order to use the sleep tracking feature. It's a sign of hearing help to come, but it's going to be a while before the tech can fully deliver on its promise. 

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The iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max have been officially revealed, promising the biggest step forward for Apple’s smartphone software experience in years. 

Apple revealed the iPhone 16 lineup at the “It’s Glowtime” event on September 9, and also showcased its forthcoming Apple Intelligence AI features which will begin rolling out in October. 

Apple CEO Tim Cook called the iPhone 16 series the “first iPhones designed from the ground up for Apple Intelligence”, and the company showed several short videos to demonstrate the day-to-day uses of its new AI tools.

Amongst the features shown was Visual Intelligence, activated by the new Camera Control capacitive button, which analyses the images in the field of view of the camera app to provide contextual information about the user’s surroundings. 

Apple’s livestream showed a supposed user walking around town, using Visual Intelligence to pull up a restaurant menu and find more details about a concert flyer. 

However, the example that has stirred the most reactions has to be our protagonist using their iPhone 16 to scan a passer-by’s dog, to find the breed of the canine companion through an AI-assisted web search. Online commenters have been going barking mad (sorry) trying to figure out why the user wouldn’t just ask the dog walker themselves.

As tech reviewer and YouTuber Rjey Tech writes on X (formerly Twitter): “'What kind of dog is that?’ Instead of asking the owner, pull out your iPhone and ask Apple Intelligence."

“What kind of Dog is that?”Instead of just asking the owner, pull out your iPhone and ask Apple Intelligence.September 9, 2024

Others weren’t so quietly sarcastic. App developer kitze referred to “AI morons” silently pointing iPhones at strangers’ puppies. 

regular human: asks owner "what kind of dog is that"apple AI moron: says nothing and points phone at a strangers puppy and asks siri "what kind of dog is that"September 9, 2024

Most reactions haven’t been quite so strong, but there’s certainly a consensus of confusion regarding Apple’s choice of demonstration.  

Will Apple Intelligence be useful?

While most commentators – us included – recognize that Apple’s iPhone 16 demonstrations aren’t quite true-to-life, the dog-scanning discourse highlights concern over whether Apple Intelligence brings meaningful upgrades to the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. 

After all, Apple’s annual September events are the most important product launches in its calendar, so fans expect the company’s A-game all the way through.

So, a somewhat unrealistic demonstration can leave commentators like FlightRadar24’s Jacob Rabinowitz thinking that Apple can’t bring any tangible use cases to mind. 

Even Apple can't demo a useful function for AI in its iPhone keynote.This ridiculous interaction goes "hi, can I take a picture of your dog so I can use AI to identify the breed?" instead of just being a normal person and asking "hi, what breed is your dog?" pic.twitter.com/JZI30yIMFbSeptember 9, 2024

It’s too early to draw conclusions about Apple Intelligence, but we think it’s most likely Apple was just having a bit of fun – and let’s face it, cute dogs are good for business.

On the other hand, Apple are always keen to emphasise the constant presence of its products in people’s lives, so there is something to glean about how the company may be envisioning a normalisation of AI in day-to-day interactions. 

Visual Intelligence will be available later this year as part of a staggered rollout of Apple Intelligence features. 

We’ll have the latest Apple Intelligence news as we hear it, and for our first impressions of a key new iPhone, do read our hands-on iPhone 16 Pro review.

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Media company Future has launched the Mobile Gaming Show, a new broadcast event that will highlight a range of exciting upcoming mobile games. It joins the company’s other existing video game showcases, including the PC Gaming Show and Future Games Show.

The Mobile Gaming Show will be broadcast on September 26 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST / 7pm CEST. It will be available via YouTube, Twitch, X / Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, GamesRadar+ and other streaming platforms. 

The show will be hosted by voice actor Benn Starr, known for his role as hero Clive Rosfield in Final Fantasy 16, and will feature a wide range of exclusive reveals, trailers, interviews, and more pertaining to a number of mobile games. Participating publishers include Digital Extremes, CCP Games, and NetEase Games. 

Regarding the launch, Editorial Director of the Mobile Gaming Show Jake Tucker said that “mobile is now the world’s most popular gaming platform with billions of people playing games on their phone every day. The Mobile Gaming Show will shine a spotlight on some of the very best mobile games available and the people that make them.

“We’ll also look at the most innovative and exciting titles coming soon that demand your attention,” he continued. “Join us on September 26 to discover the mobile games that everyone will be playing in 2024 and beyond!” 

The Mobile Gaming Show will be presented by the Future Games Show, which is currently the world’s biggest quarterly video game showcase. It averages roughly 40 million total views per show and has featured details on more than 500 games from big-budget hits such as Lords of the Fallen and Warframe to indie adventures like Pacific Drive.

The Future Games Show is part of Future plc, a British publishing company that owns brands such as PC Gamer, Tom's Guide, and TechRadar.

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A recently discovered bug in SonicWall SonicOS firewall instances is being used in ransomware attacks, multiple researchers have confirmed.

SonicWall recently reported finding, and patching, an improper access control vulnerability affecting its Gen 5, Gen 6, and Gen 7 firewalls, as well as the firewalls’ SSLVPN feature. The bug is tracked as CVE-2024-40766, and does not yet have a severity score assigned.

Now, the company has warned the bug is being actively exploited in the wild, and urged its users to apply the patch without hesitation. Soon after, security researchers from both Arctic Wolf and Rapid7 said the same thing, with the former pinning the attacks on Akira ransomware affiliates.

False sense of privacy

Akira was first spotted in March 2023 and has since raided dozens of companies. Akira’s affiliates target mostly enterprises, but they don’t seem to favor any specific vertical, as so far they targeted firms in education, finance, real estate, manufacturing, and consulting industries.

Besides operating flawed instances, the companies that recently fell prey to Akira did another thing - kept MFA disabled for high-value accounts.

“MFA was disabled for all compromised accounts, and the SonicOS firmware on the affected devices were within the versions known to be vulnerable to CVE-2024-40766,” commented Stefan Hostetler, a Senior Threat Intelligence Researcher at Arctic Wolf.

CVE-2024-40766 has also been added to CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, which also means federal agencies have a deadline to patch up, or stop using the instances entirely. The deadline is September 30.

Those who are unable to apply the patch immediately are advised to restrict firewall management and SSLVPN access to trusted sources, and to enable multi-factor authentication for all SSLVPN users using TOTP or email-based one-time passwords (OTP).

Via BleepingComputer

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Apple’s ‘It’s Glowtime’ event was jam-packed with new announcements, with the iPhone 16 range making its debut alongside the Apple Watch Series 10, new AirPods models, and a whole lot more. With so much being unveiled, it would have been easy to miss that Apple is bringing a major charging upgrade to the iPhone 16 lineup.

Skimming through the specs pages for the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Pro, you’ll find a small but important change coming to the charging and battery life of these devices. That’s because these products now support MagSafe wireless charging up to 25W (providing you have a 30W power adapter or better), almost double the previous 15W limit. And it will work with the Qi2 standard for better compatibility, too, although this only goes up to 15W.

The new 25W MagSafe limit could make a major difference to your device’s charging times. According to Apple’s own figures, you’ll now be able to power up your iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro to 50% within 30 minutes. This is true for both wireless MagSafe and wired USB-C charging, providing you use a 30W or 20W adapter for each, respectively.

Compare that to the iPhone 15 range, which were capable of fast charging up to 50% within 30 minutes, but only using a cable. On those devices, MagSafe charging was limited to 15W, the same power output limit MagSafe has had since it was introduced in 2020.

Flying under the radar

(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

Apple barely mentioned this charging speed boost during its event keynote, with company marketing chief Greg Joswiak simply saying that the iPhone 16 range will come with “a new MagSafe charger for even faster wireless charging.” Joswiak didn’t mention any specific power output or charging time figures, while Apple’s press releases buried the detail in their footnotes.

That means it would be very easy to miss this significant update. If you want your iPhone to juice up as quickly as possible, it could be a tempting reason to upgrade.

Phones have offered fast charging for some time now, with many of the best Android phones coming with extremely rapid charging times – the Realme GT 3, for instance, boasts 240W fast charging. Yet that requires a cable (the Realme GT 3 doesn’t offer wireless charging at all, in fact), and wireless charging hasn’t managed to offer anything near the same speeds. While Apple’s 25W MagSafe upgrade is far below the best wired charging speeds, it’s still a welcome improvement.

There were plenty of other upgrades announced with the iPhone 16 range, including a new Camera Control button, faster chips, improved cameras, and more. While the charging uptick didn’t get as much time in the sun as some of the other new features, it could prove to be just as important. 

For our first impressions of one of the new iPhones, do read our hands-on iPhone 16 Pro review.

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If you're lucky enough to live somewhere where summer doesn't just mean warmer rain, outdoors is the new indoors: it's where we take our Bluetooth speakers, where we take our smart cookers and, if Samsung has any say in it, where we put our TVs too. But of course you can't simply stick one of the best OLED TVs on the terrace or in your yard unless you want to squint at it in the sunshine before it gets full of rain and bugs. Hence The Terrace, Samsung's range of TVs designed to live outside no matter what the weather.

Samsung has added a whole bunch of new TVs to the Terrace range, including 65 and 75-inch Full Sun models and 55, 65 and 75-inch Partial Sun models. They're designed to deliver serious brightness so you can see the picture clearly on a sunny day, which is why Samsung has put Neo QLED displays inside, and they come with IP56 ratings, the highest water and dust resistance ratings of any Samsung TVs. 

Samsung The Terrace Full Sun and Partial Sun TVs: features, pricing and availability

There are two new partial sun models, and they cost $3,499 for the 55-inch (so around £2,675 or AU$5,253), $4,999 for the 65-inch (about £3,820 or AU$7,506) and $6,499 for the 75-inch versions (roughly £4,968 or AU$9,758) respectively. Full Sun models start at $7,499 (around £5,730 or AU$11,259) for 65 inches and $9,999 (£7,645 or AU$15,010 approx) for 75 inches. 

Each of the TVs in the range is built around a very bright quantum matrix Neo QLED display with very wide viewing angles, and they're powered by Samsung's NQ4 AI Gen2 Processor. In order to minimize glare they come with anti-reflective screens, and the built-in audio is loud enough for pretty big outdoor spaces: 40W through four speakers.

There's another key difference between these Samsung TVs and TVs designed for indoor life: The Terrace TVs are designed to withstand serious heat, so for example the Full Sun models are designed to withstand temperatures of up to 122ºF, and to operate in direct sunlight for up to 6 hours at 104ºF.

As you'd expect, there's Samsung SmartThings integration with your smart home, and the new TVs also include the Samsung TV Plus and Gaming Hub to deliver over 2,700 free channels, which include over 360 Samsung TV Plus channels and thousands of games for console-free play.

The new TVs are available for pre-order from this week at Samsung.com.

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Sony has announced a surprise PlayStation 5 Technical Presentation where it will likely unveil the first official look at its next major console, the long-rumoured PlayStation 5 Pro. 

To get ready for the broadcast, here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming broadcast, including when and where to watch, as well as what we can expect from the showcase.

Start Time

The PlayStation 5 Technical Presentation is scheduled to broadcast later today on September 10 at 8:00am PT / 11:00am ET / 4:00pm BST.

Where to watch?

If you’re looking to watch the PlayStation 5 Technical Presentation live, you’ll be able to tune in to the PlayStation YouTube channel or the PlayStation Twitch channel. 

As with most industry broadcasts, there will likely be a pre-requisite countdown timer leading up to the actual event, just in case some viewers are late tuning in.

What to expect

Sony has confirmed that the PlayStation 5 Technical Presentation will be a 9-minute livestream and be hosted by Mark Cerny, Lead Architect of the PlayStation 5, and will  “focus on PS5 and innovations in gaming technology”.

Although there’s no confirmation at this time, there strong reason to believe that Sony will finally reveal the PS5 Pro, a more powerful and technically advanced version of its 2020 console. 

Rumours about the console have been stacking up for months. More recently, it was reported by industry insider Jeff Grubb that the PS5 Pro could be released over the Holiday season - likely between October and December - and could potentially cost between $600 and $700.

Grubb also predicted that the official console unveiling would arrive in September, like during a State of Play livestream, but the latest PlayStation 5 Technical Presentation announcement seems the most likely.

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Squarespace could be about to go private as a looming Permira deal could see the acquisition of the website builder platform become better aligned to take on industry giants GoDaddy and Wix.

The British investment firm has agreed to increase its offer in a nod to its confidence in the company – the deal could be worth $7.2 billion.

Permira’s revised deal sees it offering $46.50 per share in cash to Squarespace stockholders, up from the $44 offered in May 2024, equating to a deal that would have been worth $6.9 billion.

Squarespace offered $0.3 billion in added valuation

Permira’s revised offer comes in response to advice taken by Squarespace investors not to accept the proposed deal. Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services suggested the sale process would not offer the best value to shareholders in light of the company’s strong performance.

In its most recent quarter, Squarespace grew revenue by a staggering 20% to $296.8 million. Prior to that, quarterly growth stood at an equally strong 19%.

Michael Fleisher, Chairman of the Special Committee of the Squarespace Board of Directors, commented on the deal: "Our core focus has been maximizing value and certainty for the unaffiliated stockholders. This transaction is the result of a deliberate and thoughtful process and ultimately represents a great outcome that is in the best interest of Squarespace and all of its stockholders.”

Permira Partner David Erlong added: “This best and final offer allows Squarespace stockholders to capture immediate and certain value for their investment.”

By going private as part of the deal, Squarespace hopes to access more resources and flexibility to enhance its portfolio, which could help continue its positive growth trajectory.

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A privacy feature in WhatsApp was found to have a worrying security flaw, putting its two billion users at risk of sensitive data leaks.

Security researcher Tal Be’ery recently found the bug in WhatsApp's “View Once” feature, which allows disappearing messages. When a user sends a View Once message to someone, that message disappears seconds after being viewed by the recipient. Furthermore, the recipient is blocked from forwarding, or saving the message - and taking screenshots is also blocked.

The feature is supposed to only be available on mobile platforms. Users opening the desktop app, or opening WhatsApp through the browser, would usually see a message saying “You received a view once message. For added privacy, you can only open it on your phone.” However, Be’ery says that there is a way to bypass this protection and not only view the message on desktop/browser, but save it, as well.

False sense of privacy

“The only thing that is worse than no privacy, is a false sense of privacy in which users are led to believe some forms of communication are private when in fact they are not,” Be’ery said in his write-up. “Currently, WhatsApp’s ‘View Once’ is a blunt form of false privacy and should either be thoroughly fixed or abandoned.”

Be’ery reported the bug to Meta, WhatsApp’s parent company, in late August 2024. In a response to TechCrunch, the company said it is aware of the bug and is “already in the process of rolling out updates to view once on the web.”

We don’t know when the patch will arrive. Until that happens, send view once messages only to people you trust. WhatsApp is one of the most popular instant messaging platforms in the world, counting more than two billion users.

Via TechCrunch

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Ahead of the launch of the iPhone 16 series, one thing we heard rumored was that all four models would have 8GB of RAM, and – while Apple never reveals RAM amounts in its phones – it seems that claim was probably right.

MacRumors – with assistance from @iSWUpdates – claims to have found mention of 8GB of RAM for all four models in the latest version of Xcode 16 (an Apple tool for developers).

That would be a 2GB boost for the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Plus, but it would mean that the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max have the same amount of RAM as their predecessors.

An issue for AI

The iPhone 16 Pro Max (Image credit: Apple)

That latter point is slightly disappointing, especially since Apple Intelligence is likely to need quite a lot of RAM – especially for the stuff that’s handled on device. For comparison, the Google Pixel 9 line comes with between 12GB and 16GB of RAM to help handle all of the many AI features on those phones.

Of course, we still can’t quite take this leak as a confirmation that every iPhone 16 model has 8GB of RAM. We’ll have to wait for teardowns for that, but we’d say it’s very likely accurate.

For one thing, Xcode files have accurately revealed RAM amounts in previous iPhone models, and for another, it makes sense that the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus at least would have 8GB, since the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus don’t support Apple Intelligence, and that’s likely at least in part because they only have 6GB of RAM.

That again though shows how important plenty of RAM probably is for Apple’s AI, so it will be interesting to see whether the Pro models feel less than Pro when carrying out AI tasks.

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